Boy do I feel your pain!!!! I have the same and more. Everything with an S I have, I had lower laminectomy with fusions L3,4,5 ?? not sure but think he should have done more, and a lot of arthritis removed. I was OK , for a bit. I am thin so my spine sticks out of my back and has shifted to the right side with a huge curve. Not attractive and can even be seen through a shirt , I can not sit back on anything without a cushion,, standing , sitting all will trigger the sciatic nerve from the back, a major spot that is a large bulge , which is the major source of pain, my Dr still has never told me what it is, scans just show major anatomical changes. I had a choice from Ortho Drs, to do a full on spinal surgery with rods, poles, cages etc,, I said no and my neurosurgeon agreed to do what he did that would be the least invasive.. He is a great Dr, and I did feel like a real person again,, but now I am much worse, I used to be able to walk 20 miles a day, hike up mountains, walk through an airport for hours,. I refuse to let this get me so I still do my treadmill 2 hours a night. granted not the speed I used to or incline,, I walk through the sciatica pain , if it gets bad, I stop , take the right leg and pick it uo with the left hand and stretch it all the way over to the other side,. it feels good and will break the cycle,, until the next time.. I started to do on the floor PT .. laying flat on my back, lifting one leg at a time and stretching,, then knee bends,, then crossovers,. If I can make a habit of this it helps.. On a normal day I work I am on my feet all day and I still have to smile through the pain,, there are times I have to just sit at my desk and put my legs up,. have a roller device I now use to roll on the thigh ,, it helps... What made me respond to you was your desire for the stimulaor. Please seriously think about this,,. My Mom had 2 failed back surgeries plus I am sure she never did much for PT, as she is lazy... so she opted for the St. Jude one when it first came out, the thing never worked,, eventually they removed it. We all begged her not to get another but she opted for that quick fix,,, well that quick fix ended up nearly costing her her life and it has sucked the life out of me.. after about 5 years with that in her, again never really worked as she was always whining about her back pain and on pain relievers , and then spending more and more time in bed.. One day her back was wet.. I looked and she had a gaping hole in her spine the size of a quarter, that was beyond anything I have seen,, I had my dad take her to the Dr right away,, very poor medical here, she was being treated for wound care but it wasnt until the right Dr, looked at her , which was my spinal surgeon,. said the box was visible in the hole and full of bacteria and he did the surgery to remove it,, Dr,. stated the leads were loose or disconnected , those are wires in your body,, foreign substances... he said the box became contaminated , who knows for how long , inside or her that eventually it ate away through her skin,, there is much more to this story but I gave you enough,,, I do not know have statistics to say how many people it has helped or what the infection rate is.. but please ask. My back is severe and I would never put one in,, I have looked into these belts you can wear that have the stimulator on the outside on the back.. ask your Dr about that , a cousin of mine got one,, a company neuro med makes a pad you affix to your spine I am researching,, I am sched, for another MRI to find out what happened , You are not alone,, . and about the neck,, yes the neck is part of the spine, But i do not believe it controls the part that causes sciatica .. I had cervical 3 levels 3 years ago,, horrible surgery, still have pain at night, but I do exercises before bed to loosen them up and wear a collar at night,, I will tell you stress is the #1 reason on top of all of the other life issues that rears its ugly head when we least expect it,, I am a stage 4 metastatic double cancer survivor with 15 months of chemo,,that was hell but I will tell you living with chronic pain on a daily basis has been a lot harder and it can really get you down,I wish you well and to receive some relief from this way under researched phenomena of spinal pain,, Carry on!! Jacquie